Page 67 of Chronicles of a Rockin' Mess

“Actually, uh, I don’t think it can unless you’re cool with Asher destroying your home.”

“Who’s Asher?” Margie asks.

“My dog,” Lincoln says.

“I have a grand dog! When? Why didn’t you tell us?” Margie says, her voicing rising with each word.

“Mom, calm down. I just adopted him yesterday,” he explains. “I was going to tell you, but then Dad here had to not take care of himself, so I may have forgotten to mention it.”

“I take care of myself, for the love of God,” Eric says as he sits up and puts his legs over the side of the bed. “I’m going to get dressed and checked out of this three-star dump, and then all of us are going to Lincoln’s house, so we can meet our grand dog and talk.”

“Fine,” Lincoln and his mom huff at the same time. I smile, and Eric catches it and winks at me. This is going to be interesting.

Chapter 28

Lincoln

“I’m sorry about Tiffany. I texted her and rescheduled to meet with her tomorrow,” I say as I pull into the driveway, my parents’ car pulling in behind me.

“It’s fine.”

I look over at Lark. I know it’s not fucking fine. I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the outgoing rock star Lark I saw on stage at the festival and the timid young woman next to me, but I will help her come out of her shell if it’s the last thing I do.

“It’s not fine,” I respond as I turn to her. She has her hand on the door handle, and I touch her other arm. She looks over at me.

“I’m not fucking around with you, Lark. I swear…I will make this happen.”

She nods as she gets out of the car. I know she has no reason to trust me after all the shit I’ve pulled. I want to make excuses for myself. I want to say it was my newfound fame or my quick rise to the top of stardom, but there’s not an excuse, and deep down I know that.

As I walk up to the porch, Maria opens the door. Immediately, Asher bounds out of the house. He’s covered in something white, and he makes circles as he chases his tail on the front porch.

“You need to take him to doggie school, Mr. Grant. He is out of control,” Maria half-yells as she throws her hands up in the air.

That’s when I realize that Asher is covered in cotton stuffing from pillows. Shit. Maria wasn’t kidding when she texted me earlier.

“Oh, he’s so cute!” my mother exclaims. Asher decides that means he should jump on her. She falls back as my father nearly runs into her. I slap a hand to my head. This. Is. A. Mess.

“Asher, come here, boy,” I call him, but Asher is licking my mom’s face and can’t be bothered to follow a command.

“Asher,” Lark says in a loud voice, and the damn dog comes right over to her.

“Sit!” she commands, and Asher sits.

“Well, I’ll be damned. That’s a smart pup,” my dad says as he pats Asher’s head and holds out a hand to help my mother up. “You OK, Margie?”

My mom is laughing as she stands up and dusts off her pants. “I’m fine.”

Maria is so focused on Asher, that I can see the moment she realizes my parents are here.

“Oh, dios mio!” she cries out as she walks over to hug my mother.

“Hi, Maria,” my mom responds as she embraces her. I stand there, a little flabbergasted. I had no idea they were so close.

“Mr. Grant, so good to see you. How are you feeling?” Maria says to my dad as she pulls back from my mom and launches herself at him.

“Good to see you too, Maria. I’ll live another day,” he says.

Lark is barely holding on to Asher. “Uh, where should I put Asher?” she asks me. I grin down at her because she is also now covered in cotton pillow stuffing.

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